As most of you know, I
live in Fergus and have been observing weather and storms in the
area for over 10 years. This page is as accurate an overview of the
whole event as I can come up with. It is not a final or official report by
the government and will be updated as new data becomes available. I hope
it will help understand what happened and where. Thankfully, no one was
seriously injured or killed. This aspect is taken from my point of view
with pictures I have taken, some that have been sent to me and data and
information many would never see otherwise. Although I chase storms, I
never like to see damage occurring in dense populated areas much less
near my friends and family.

My Chase

On
the evening of August 18th, I noticed the weather models were indicating
that areas over southern Ontario were looking ripe for supercells to
form in the afternoon of August 19th. These rotating storms/supercells
would have the chance to produce tornadoes as they matured. I went to
bed at 3 am and tossed and turned which is always a sign that I know
something is going to happen. At 8 am I awoke to grey overcast skies and
wondered if my forecast was accurate. The
convective outlook from
Environment Canada (EC from now on) had a small hint that tornadoes were
possible.

I
fired up the radar and looked at the computer models. Storms were
starting to come across the region and should hit the Fergus area after
1pm. Around 10:19 am, a severe
thunderstorm watch was issued for Wellington County and this was
upgraded to a tornado watch at
12:50pm. At this time I was out the door on a course to intercept this
storm to the west of Salem traveling along side road 15. At 1:11pm a
severe thunderstorm warning was
issued for Wellington County as I was coming into Salem. I got about 3
kms to the west of Salem when I had a complete electrical breakdown of
my truck. My wipers stopped working. This was not good as it has
happened twice before with the wipers and both times tornadoes have been
really close or occurring.

I
gave a quick call to
George Kourounis and then Mark
Robinson for some important data. While on the phone with Mark I
told him I was seeing this storm wrapping up and getting really
organized. He said to stay where I was and then wait for the rain to end
and go home for repairs. This was around 1:30 pm. About 4 mins later the
tornado hit Salem and reports started to come in. At 1:35pm, a
tornado warning was issued on
the storm for tornado damage in Conestoga Lake region. This was the same
storm but a different part of the storm had created a new tornado as the
old tornado spun out.

My
chase was over but as I was crawling into Salem to get my truck fixed, I
turned from a stormchaser to someone just there to document the event
and help out.

The Tornado Scale

The Fergus F2 Tornado was rated on the Fujita Scale of Damage. This
means that the winds are estimated based on how much damage is done to
trees, structures etc. An overview of the Fujita scale is below.

F0 - light
winds of 64 to 116 km/hr; some damage to chimneys, TV antennas,
roof shingles, trees, signs, and windows and accounts for about
28 percent of all tornadoes.

F3 - severe winds of 253
to 330 km/hr; exterior walls and roofs blown off homes, metal
buildings collapsed or severely damaged, and forests and
farmland flattened. F2 tornadoes account for about six percent
of all tornadoes.

F4 - devastating winds
of 331 to 417 km/hr; few walls, if any, left standing in
well-built homes; large steel and concrete missiles thrown great
distances. F4 tornadoes account for about two percent of all
tornadoes.

F5 - incredible winds of
418 to 509 km/hr; homes leveled or carried great distances. F5
tornadoes can cause tremendous damage to large structures such
as schools and motels and can tear off exterior walls and roofs.
Tornadoes of this magnitude account for less than one percent of
all tornadoes and have never been officially recorded in Canada.
However, recent research suggests that as many as two may have
occurred in Saskatchewan, regardless, F5 tornadoes are possible
in Canada every summer.

This was a strong F2 and could possibly be re-rated an F3 after further
analysis is done.

The Tornado's Statistical
Data

It
originated in Salem and tracked to the ENE to Fergus where is made
a slight turn to the right almost due east which is very common with
tornadic storms. It began this turn as it was the strongest and biggest.
It then began to weaken and turn back to the ENE before dissipating near
Belwood. It traveled 11kms and was 1.50 kms wide at it largest point
just NE of Fergus. It was traveling around 50 kph as it moved over the
area. The complete storm reports for the day are
here.

Damage Path

Damage Path
Times

Damage
Width/Length

The Tornado's Radar Images

I
have compiled a complete account of the tornado in radar images for you
to see the storm on a large scale that meterologists use to detect
intense storms and tornadoes. Click the image for a large animation but
they run about 1.5 megs each one for clarity and size. Now, the
locations of the storms are off a little bit due to the tilt of the
radar so the storm and tornado is actual about 2 or so kms south from
where it is in the radar images (normal).

Storm Reflectivity Images

This image shows the storm in regards to precipitation intensity. You
can also see the storms is rotating counterclockwise over the entire
image. The spoke that wraps down over Salem is the beginning of the
tornado and it starts to disappear when it begins to get near Belwood.
This color index is on the left of the image and the stronger colors
indicate the most intense part of the storm.

Storm Velocity Images

This image shows the storm in regards to to way the winds are moving to
and from the radar station. If you look at the area near Salem at the
start you can see the reds and greens very close together indicating
rotating winds to and from and this is the signature you look for in
rotation in storms. Although you can have this type of rotation in a
storm that does not produce a tornado, that is not the case here. You
can the storm was rotating just before Salem and then intensified as it
traveled. If you look at the first 2 frames, you can see the same thing
in the NW part of the image showing where the Conestoga lake was ending.

Storm Relative Velocity
Images

This is another image that looks at the winds within storms. It shows a
much stronger couplet and a more defined location of where the tornado
was.

The Tornado's Damage

The follow map is a clickable one. All the points listed are images of
damage along the path of the tornado with the areas as close as I can
remember or get too. There are even a few aerial shots. They are some of
the ones I took at the very beginning and some that people have sent in.
I did not get a complete set of images as many areas were blocked off
and I was too busy helping clear areas etc to bother with taking
pictures or video. As it was a trying time, I never just start taking
pictures without asking (my own rules when I chase). Some areas are
still blocked off to public access so maybe more photos will come in the
days and weeks and I will add them.

I
should note that not one picture of the tornado was taken. After talking
with people and looking at radar, it appears the tornado was wrapped in
rain so that it was not visible to see. There are some images floating
around on the net saying they are from the area when they are not. An
example of the imposter photos is here!

Some aerial shots were taken of the storm by
AerialFocus. They are
copyrighted by them and on this site to give a larger picture of the
storm damage. I know where one is taken but the others I am not familiar
with.